Science Test- Paper Towels
“Which kitchen paper is the best at absorbing liquid? ” Scientific Principles- Since paper towels are used to pick up liquids, the volume of liquid it can hold is important. The amount of liquid a towel can absorb can be measured by the volume of liquid it picks up. Aim- To investigate which kitchen paper is the best at absorbing most liquid. Hypothesis- I think that Viva/Kleenex will be the best at absorbing most of the liquid because I think it’s the thickest paper towel and I think that it can hold a fair amount of liquid that it requires. Equipment- Different types of paper towels- To test out which paper towel absorbs most liquids in the experiment. 1. Home Brand Coles 2. Viva/Kleenex 3. Handee Ultra • Different types of liquids- To use to test the paper towels with. 1. Orange Sunkist 2. Coke 3. Schweppes Raspberry • Stopwatch – To time the 30 seconds • Tape measurer or ruler – To measure the amount of liquid that has been absorbed onto the kitchen paper. • Sticky Tape – To tape the paper towels to A4 Paper after they have been used in the experiment. • 3 cups – To pour the liquids into. • A4 Paper – To put the kitchen paper towels onto. Pen – To label the 3 cm and to gather results. • Camera – To take a photo of the paper towels. Risk Assessment Table- |Item |Risk |Justification | |A4 Paper |First Aid Needed (6) |Paper Cut | |Cup(s) |First Aid Needed (4) |Could cut yourself if some sharp edges | | | |appear or either if the cup smashes. Procedure- 1. Grab 3 cups that are the exact same length, width and is the exact same size. 2. Pour into the 1st cup the Coke, pour into the 2nd cup the Sunkist and lastly pour the Raspberry into the 3rd cup. 3. Cut 3 strips of each paper towel the exact length; 3 strips of the Home Brand, 3 strips of the Handee Ultra and 3 strips of the Viva/Kleenex. 4. Grab 3 A4 Paper’s and write on the top of the 1st paper; 1St Test. On the 2nd Paper; 2nd Test and on the 3rd Paper; 3rd Test. 5. Write each name of the brand on the top of the paper towel so you can know which paper towel it is. . Measure 3 cm on each of the 9 paper towels once it has been cut into strips and draw a line across so it marks 3 cm. 7. Set the timer so it can be put to 30 seconds. 8. Dip one of the paper towels into a liquid, perhaps we choose the raspberry & the viva. 9. Dip the viva paper towel into the raspberry cup and dip it all the way down until you reach the 3 cm line then you start the timer. 10. Click the timer and hold the paper towel inside the cup until the 30 seconds is finished. 11.
Stop when the 30 seconds is up and take the paper towel out and put it onto something so all the droplets of the liquid doesn’t go onto the A4 Paper. 12. Hold the strip of the paper towel until it has finished dripping. 13. Place onto the A4 Paper when it finishes dripping. 14. Tape the paper towel onto the A4 Paper by using the sticky tape. 15. Measure how much liquid the paper towel absorbed by using a ruler. 16. Label that it was Viva and that it was Raspberry. 17. Record the result. 18. Repeat the same steps until all 9 paper towels have been absorbed. | | | |TEST 1- | | | | | | | | | | | |In the first test that I did in my experiment the paper towel, | | |Handee Ultra absorbed the most liquid as it went up 6 cm of the| | |paper towel. The paper towel Viva Kleenex was the second best | | |as it went up 5 cm of the paper towel. And the Home Brand | | |soaked up 4. 5cm of the paper towel. | | | | |TEST 2- | | | | | | | | | | | |The paper towel Handee Ultra once again was proven to absorb | | |the most liquid in the 2nd test as the paper towel absorbed | | |6. 5cm of the coke. Surprisingly the paper towel Home Brand | | |soaked up a fair amount compared to the Viva Kleenex. Viva | | |soaked up 5 cm of the Sunkist and Home Brand soaked up 6 cm of | | |the Raspberry. There was a slight change in Test 2. | | | | |TEST 3- | | | | | |Viva/Kleenex absorbed the most in the last test as it absored | | |8. 1cm of the Sunkist. It was quite strange because I was | | |expecting the Handee Ultra paper towel to be the best as it | | |absorbed the most liquids in both test 1 and 2. But Handee | | |Ultra came last as it only absorbed 5. 5cm of the raspberry. | |However the Home Brand wasn’t far off from the Viva as the | | |paper towel absorbed 8 cm of the coke. Test 3 was quite unusual| | |as Viva came first place in this Test and Handee Ultra came | | |last. | Results | |Test 1 |Test 2 |Test 3 |Amount of liquid absorbed | | | | | |altogether. |Paper Towel |Viva/Kleenex |Viva/Kleenex |Viva/Kleenex |Viva | |Liquid |Raspberry |Sunkist |Sunkist | | |Height (cm) |5 |5 |8. 1 |= 18. 1 | | | | | | | |Paper Towel |Handee Ultra |Handee Ultra |Handee Ultra |Handee Ultra | |Liquid |Sunkist |Coke |Raspberry | | |Height (cm) |6 |6. 5 |5. 5 |= 22. | |Paper Towel |Home Brand |Home Brand |Home Brand |Home Brand | |Liquid |Coke |Raspberry |Coke | | |Height (cm) |4. 5 |6 |8 |= 18. 5 | Discussion- The independent variable used in this experiment is the paper towels and the liquids. The dependent variable used in this experiment is what I’m going to measure; how much liquid absorbed onto the kitchen paper, the length of the kitchen paper and the amount of time.
The constant variable used in this experiment is that all the liquids were poured into the same type of cup and there was the same amount of liquid in each cup. The 3 things that stayed the same in this experiment for fair testing was the time; which was measured in seconds. The length of the paper towel; which will be measured in cm with a ruler and the amount of liquid poured into the cup. When I was doing the experiment I realised that the paper towel ‘Handee Ultra’ had been soaking more liquid than most of the other paper towel. My hypothesis was proven wrong because I thought it would’ve been the Kleenex/Viva that would’ve perhaps absorbed more. The reason why I thought Viva/Kleenex would’ve been the best is because I thought it was much thicker.
The Home Brand didn’t do much when I dipped it into the liquid. I didn’t expect it to because it was a really thin paper towel and it wouldn’t hold as much liquid. However, I was really surprised that the Viva kitchen paper towel didn’t do much. On the other hand there was Handee Ultra which was basically the best paper towel out of all 3; it absorbed the most liquids. In this experiment there were no major difficulties. The only section which you need to be very careful of is when you are pouring the liquids into the cup. Be careful not to spill the liquids and make sure you do not fill it past the amount or your experiment will not be fair.
Some changes that can be made to improve this experiment is by using some more equipment by using a video camera recorder to record the experiment so people that would do this experiment would get a much more better idea on what to do other then follow the procedure and they may become lost if they don’t fully understand. Conclusion- The experiment went very well other than that my hypothesis was proven wrong. I stated as my hypothesis that Viva/Kleenex was going to be the strongest paper towel but my hypothesis was proven to be wrong. The paper towel Handee Ultra was proven to be the strongest paper towel as it absorbed more liquids then the other paper towels. Handee Ultra soaked up more liquids then the 2 other paper towels. I was very surprised that the Home Brand paper towel absorbed more liquids then the Viva.
But Viva wasn’t as far behind as Home Brand, they were both on the same level. So altogether, our aim was to investigate which paper towel absorbs the most liquids and we found out that Handee Ultra absorbs the most liquids. In this experiment no bad things happened, it all went the way I hoped it would turn out to be; no one got injured and it was an all safe experiment at the end. Bibliography- http://en. wikipedia. org/wiki/Paper_towel www. answers. com www. google. com ———————– [pic] Type of Paper Towel Amount of liquid absorbed [pic] Type of Paper Towel Amount of liquid absorbed [pic] Type of Paper Towel Amount of liquid absorbed
